Khosi Delores Little-Deedee

I am a Mom, grandmother and great grandmother.
My late husband Al was and still is the love of my life.
In the early sixties, I lived in Brooklyn with my wonderful husband Al and our two beautiful daughters.
As a young adult, I had always embraced and worn my natural hair. The children in our neighborhood would always say to my daughters, “ your mother is from Africa!”
When I joined the Grandassa models in 1964, it allowed me to showcase my one-of-a-kind knitted clothing and accessories including hats,scarves and even bathing suits. I currently have a two piece outfit (dress and pants set) that has been featured in Kwame Brathwaite’s “ Black is Beautiful”exhibition since June 2019 and has traveled to museums in numerous states including California, Texas, Michigan and South Carolina.
Not only did l sew or knit all of the clothes that l modeled in the Naturally Shows, but for many years, l created all of the fashions for a series of African inspired fashion shows in Brooklyn N.Y. The models and many of the attendees wore a variety of stunning braided hairstyles created by my youngest daughter.
While modeling with the Grandassa Models, I was recruited by South African singer and dancer, Matiwane Manana, to tour with Miriam Makeba as a back up singer and dancer.
The Naturally shows supported our culture, esthetics, our natural beauty and also encouraged economic independence. One memorable affirmation sung by the entire audience at every Naturally show was:

You gotta be natural and buy black
You betty be natural and buy
black
You gotta be natural and buy black
Cause black is definitely back !